


Let the past die

by Tousdesanges



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25932313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tousdesanges/pseuds/Tousdesanges
Summary: As long as I’m alive, I can remember him.And as I remember him, then maybe, all of this can make sense.Five years after the battle of Exogol, Rey is training a new generation of Jedi in Takodana where she settled her new home. But she keeps struggling with her past and the death of Ben Solo.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey/Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

_As long as_ _I_ _’m_ _alive, I c_ _an_ _remember him._   
_And as I remember him, then maybe, all of this_ _can mak_ _e sense._

**Chapter** **1:** **A** **new** **life**

It’s been 5 years since Rey came back to Takodana after the battle with the Final Order on Exogol. ' _5_ _years, already'_ , she thought to herself as she watched the remains of Maz’s castle on the horizon. She chose to settle her new home here because she remembered how amazed she was by all the magnificence of the forest and the lakes, especially the vast Nymeve lake. Every morning, she would wake up and bathe herself in the sunlight of this now quiet planet, feel the spirit of the forest and its inhabitants, animals, small creatures. In Jakku, it was always so quiet and hot. And now she could hear and feel the birds in the trees, the wind in the sleeves, the water rushing on the shore of the lakes. 

It wasn’t as silent as the Jakku desert anymore. 

But all these sounds couldn’t cover the voice in her head. The same soft and loving voice she heard for the last time on Exogol. She still hears it at night, in her dreams. Always the same dreams. ' _I will always be with you'_ he whispers as she falls down the pit on Ach-to and stand still in front of the mirror in the cave where she swears, she recognized his silhouette behind it. ' _I will always be with you'._ It gets stronger and stronger when she touches the mirror with her fingertips. Sometimes it’s so loud and clear that she wakes up feeling him by her side. But no one is here.   
In the darkness of the night, she is left alone, crying and reliving the same traumatic event. The life slowly leaving her body as she used her lightsabers to strike Palpatine down, the force fading inside of her after she gave the final blast, her legs collapsing and her body slowly laying on the cold ground. Then darkness. Only darkness. 

But the thing she remembers after that is an explosion of warmth in her belly, rushing through her veins, to her heart. She woke up in his arms, his strong arms wrapping her body. He saved her. He was alive and he gave her his force to bring her back to life. But no, he hadn’t just saved her. He had sacrificed himself so she could live. And he was gone because of that. 

Finn, Poe, Rose, and all the other Resistance members never asked her what happened in the Emperor throne room. How she defeated Palpatine and Kylo Ren. Because that’s what they thought. She heard the tales around the galaxy. People think that the two dark lords are dead because she killed them. Every human and creatures in the galaxy worship Rey Skywalker because she brought the end of years of tyranny and persecution. The threat was over. The cause was bigger than her and she couldn’t tell the truth to these people, the news spread too fast. She never said that she wasn’t alone that day to defeat the Emperor. ' _They would never understand, never forgive him'...._ Nobody knows what really happened and it’s too late to tell the truth now. The ‘Great’ Rey Skywalker is a coward she thought. 

_'Master_ _Skywalker_ _!_ _Master_ _Skywalker!'_ A young girl waved at Rey from the distance. Marju, a little padawan smiled at her as she ran towards the Jedi temple. Rey waved back at her as she emerged from her painful memories. A new day of training has begun. When Rey came back to Takodana, she knew she had to live up to the expectations that her new name represents. After the battle, with the help of Finn and Poe, she built a new temple to train a new generation of Jedi. It was time to restore this order with a new approach after everything that happened for the last decades. With the help of all the past jedis and the ancient texts, she brought back the essence of the order to train young group of padawans. 

This morning, Rey decided to take the padawans inside the forest to teach them how to open themselves to its force. A group of children followed her happily into the freshness of the trees. She really likes training these kids. She never thought she could be a jedi master to anyone after the death of Leia, and Luke, her own masters, but watching these kids learning and practicing, it gave her so much reward for the time she had invested in the new temple. 

When they reached the big rocks behind the trees, they all sat down in circle. _Today, I want you to connect with the force_ _. Tr_ _y to feel every living_ _thing_ _that surrounds you._ _Now close your eyes and_ _try to_ _reach out._ As she said that, she remembered the time Master Luke taught her the same thing, how ridiculous she was for physically reaching out her arm. She smiled at this memory. 

She watched those children slowly connecting to the force. She joined them in the circle to do the same. She closed her eyes and immediately felt a deep connection to the forest. She could feel a deer eating the grass in the near meadow, the sleeves of the trees falling on the ground, the small worms underground, eating dirt. 

But suddenly, she felt a calling into the woods. A cold and warm sensation surrounded by flashing red lights. She felt her heart beating faster and faster as the flashes intensified. And in a blink of an eye, there she was, a couple of yards from their meditation place, in the middle of the forest. The padawans were gone. She was alone and running fast. Suddenly, the black, masked figure of Kylo Ren appeared in front of her. He was trying to avoid the shots of her blaster with his red crossguard lightsaber. She was running away from him but weirdly, she suddenly didn’t want to. She stopped herself and he stopped too, and she could feel his surprised gaze on her, behind his mask, when she turned around to face him. _'_ _Ben...?'_ she whispered. But instantly, she was back in the circle with the padawans, looking strangely at her. 

_'Are you alright_ _Master?_ _You were_ _shaking?'_ Asked Ava, a little boy.   
_'Yes, yes, I am alright_ 'she said, trying to convince herself that she was.   
_'Who is Ben_ _,_ _Master?_ _You_ _whispered_ _this name_ _.'_

Rey gathered her senses to hide her emotions as she replied, ' _Nobody, just a memory_ _._ '

Later in the afternoon, in the Jedi Temple, Rey was still shaken by her morning experience. What happened? Why did she come back to this place, to this moment? It was the time of their first encounter, when she was so afraid of him, not knowing who he was behind his mask, only terrified by all the things she had heard about the mighty Kylo Ren. But she felt different this time, she wasn’t scared. She wasn’t the innocent Jakku scavenger girl chased by the then Commander of the First Order, she was herself. She tried to talk to him, but the connection stopped. 

Did she travel back in time? Impossible. Unless... 

[To be continued...]


	2. Tale as old as time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On this bright morning, the little padawans and Rey embark on the Millenium Falcon to visit the famous market of Parisis on Tatooine known for its quality bookstores. It was time for the children to buy their first jedi training books and there’s only one place to find these old collections: Agustian’s bookstore.

**Chapter 2: Tale as old as time**

A week has passed since Rey’s strange troubling moment during the meditation session, but Rey was still intrigued by what happened. Did she travel back in time or was it just a déjà vu kind of moment? The force is a pathway to some very strange abilities as she learned during her training. Was it real or was it just a vision? She couldn’t tell the difference. All she knew was that as strange as it felt, since Ben’s death, it was the first time that the connection was so strong between them. In her dream, he’s just a shadow. But at that moment, he was so real. She could have talked to him, touched him if only the connection didn’t end.

On this bright morning, the little padawans and Rey embark on the Millenium Falcon to visit the famous market of Parisis known for its quality bookstores. It was time for the children to buy their first jedi training books and there’s only one place to find these old collections: Agustian’s bookstore.

\- _You’re alright?_ Asks Finn as Rey sits down beside him in the cockpit. _You seem a little off these days. Something’s wrong?_ Finn always accompanies Rey and the padawans every time they leave the temple of Takodana. Even if the threat against the Jedis isn’t what it used to be, it’s still not safe to travel alone with a group of young padawans.  
\- _Yes, I’m fine_ answers Rey, entering the coordinates into the navigational chart.  
\- _Alright, if you say so..._ adds Finn, not really convinced by his friend’s answer. But he learnt not to insist with Rey, especially after the battle on Exogol. He knows that something terrible happened in the throne room, but she never talked about it, so he never asked.  
\- _BB-8, everything’s ok?_ Asks Finn. The little droid answers with a little ‘bip’ in sign of approval. _Ok Pal let’s go to Parisis then!_

****

The market of Parisis is located in the ancient town of Looma on Tatooine. In the middle of the Rock Valley, a thousand tents are occupied by the finest librarians of the galaxy who come here every year to sell their books during this famous fair. Numerous humans and creatures visit this place to find the latest edition of droid translation or the oldest, most ancient texts about the history of the galaxy.

Boarding off the Falcon, Rey and her students, along with Finn and BB-8, wander inside the market’s alleys to find Agustian’s library. After a little walk, there it is. A massive red tent raised in the middle of the market with hundreds of flags floating around it describing all the categories you can find in the store.  
It’s not the first time that Rey visits this place since the beginning of her mastership, but she’s always amazed by the immensity of it all. Fortunately, she knows exactly where to find the jedi section.

- _Good morning Agustian!_  
\- _Good morning Rey! Good to see you! How’s the training going?_ asks Agustian, a giant green creature with big bifocals on his crooked nose. _I see that you’ve got new recruits.  
_ \- _Yes, I do. We’re here to buy them their Jedi’s texts_ smiles Rey.  
\- _Sure! You know where to find them_ winks the giant.

Rey heads towards the big shelf where the old books are weighting on the wooden planks. She runs her finger on the leather covers and she instantly feels the force of the past jedis who wrote them, centuries ago. During the Imperial order, almost all the books have been burnt. But some jedis hid them at the cost of their lives so that the testimony can still live on throughout new generations.

She really loves coming to this place. She never had the luxury to buy herself books when she was young. Nobody read her stories to fall asleep at night. But now, she can finally educate herself with countless books and tales of the past. Watching the padawans in the library, she imagines her young self at their age. How happy she would have been to be able to access such amazing content.

\- _What is that place?_ Asks the little Marju, one of Rey’s padawans, to an old man sitting on the ground. Rey is watching her student totally captivated by a man in a velvet robe reading a very ancient looking book to a group of little creatures. He is pointing to a dark place with hundreds of doors around it.  
\- _This place is called the World between worlds_ answers the man making the kids gasp in surprise. _This is where all the memories of the past, present and future go, linking all moments in time together. In this world, you can relive moments that already happened and find the answers you’ve been looking for._  
\- _Where is that place? How do we get here?_ Interrupts Marju again, very intrigued by this story.  
\- _Sweet child, only those who have the bravery and the right purpose to enter it can find this place. But I think it’s time for you to go back to your Master, she’s waiting for you.  
_

Saying that, the old man looks right into Rey’s eyes who is intrigued by what this man is telling. His gaze pierces through her with such intensity that she feels her heart fasting into her chest. Rey is visibly embarrassed, and the old man notices it, turning his gaze around.

The group of children stands up to go back to their parents and Marju walks back to Rey.  
\- _Is it true Master? Does this place really exist?_ Asks the little girl.  
Rey doesn’t know what to answer. She is still confused by what she heard and the way the old man looked at her.  
\- _I think if you truly believe in something, then it might be true sweetie. Now go back to the Falcon, the others are waiting for you. Tell Finn I’ll be here in a minute. I have to pay for the books._

Once Marju is gone, Rey searches the bookstore for the old man. She finds him in the little room where he put his vests and bag during the lecture.

\- _Excuse me sir, can I ask you something?_ Asks Rey while the man is packing his books in a big brown bag.  
\- _Yes, of course Master Skywalker, it’s a pleasure to meet you!_ As he turns around to face her, he smiles widely at the jedi.  
\- _You know who I am?_ Since the defeat of the Final order, Rey never got used to being recognized in the galaxy.  
\- _Of course, I do, all the galaxy knows! But where are my manners? I’m Mumbat. What can I do for you young lady?_  
\- _You seem to know a lot of things about this place, the World between words. I’ve read about it in the ancient texts, but I thought it was just a metaphorical place. What you said about it, if it’s true, does it mean that we can travel through time and space?_  
\- _I am no Jedi my dear, but I’ve studied the force with some very old and wise masters. From what I’ve learned, this place has many powers that can only be found and seen by a pure hearted being. Yes, you can sort of travel through time and space, reliving memories. But the dangerous thing is the interaction you make with those memories. What you do or say in this place can change the course of history for good._  
\- _How do we get to this place?_  
\- _There are several portals located in the galaxy. They manifest themselves only to those who really wish to get there. Now my dear, if you’ll excuse me, I must leave, I have another lecture to attend to. It’s been a pleasure to meet you._

So many questions are rushing inside Rey’s mind, but the old man is already leaving the room. She follows him to the market.

\- _Sorry to ask you this, but have we ever met? I have a feeling that we have_ asks Rey.  
\- _My dear, no I'm sorry, we never have. But I’ve met your old master, Luke Skywalker. He was a good friend of mine. I’ve worked with him when he was training young jedis back in the days. I used to teach padawans about the history of the galaxy. I remember teaching a young talented boy that I believe you met under terrible circumstances._  
\- _Ben Solo?_  
\- _Yes, Ben Solo, Luke’s nephew. And somehow, he reminds me of you. He was promised to be a very powerful Jedi, but some dark forces interfered in his destiny. You have that look in your eyes, the same look he had. Powerful and yet insecure at the same time. Pardon me but, when I looked at you in this room, for a second, I thought I saw his eyes. I’m sorry, I'm bothering you with my old man stories. I better be going. Goodbye Master Skywalker._  
\- _Rey, please, call me Rey._  
\- _Goodbye Rey._

As she watched the old man walking into the market’s alleys, she felt suddenly emotional. A feeling of hope rushed into her. She had to find this place.

[To be continued]


End file.
